Leucopogon fraseri (Patotara)

Leucopogon fraseri is a small, low-growing shrub with creeping, underground stems, often forming quite extensive patches. The wiry stems are usually 5-15 cm tall and clothed for much of their length with foliage. The leaves can be quite prickly to the touch and are 4-9 mm long and 1-3 mm wide, quite hard of texture and the tip is abruptly narrowed to a fine but pungent point. Their upper surface is deep green, greyish, or yellowish- to bronzy green.Its flowers are white and strongly honey-scented 1-1.3 cm long, with five distinctly bearded lobes at the mouth of the tube. They are produced from the leaf axils along the stem. It produces orange fruits which are 8-9 mm long. L. fraseri often has a long flowering season and both flowers and fruit can be seen on plants at the one time.It can be found growing in the North, South and Stewart Islands in coastal to low-alpine regions throughout from sea level to 1600 metres. Usually common in dry places in coastal dune hollows, low tussock grasslands, rocky places and fellfields.

Growing at Arthurs Pass, South Island

Leucopogon fraseri growing on the roadside near Lake Coleridge. South Island.